Infinit Nutrition Canada - Premium Sport-Specific Nutrition

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Arguably the most exciting two weeks for any athlete or avid sports fan, the 2016 Rio Olympics have come and gone. Team Infinit was well represented at this years games, with 7 athletes participating in a variety of disciplines.

Antoine Valois-Fortier
Antoine competed in his second consecutive Olympic Games after a bronze medal finish in the Mens 81kg-Judo at the 2012 games in London. This year, Antoine was once again competing in the 81kg class. He qualified himself for the quarterfinals before falling to Khasan Khalmurzaev of Russia, who would later go on to win the gold medal. In his Repechage match, a practice that allows athletes who have been eliminated from competition a chance to re-qualify for the next round, Antoine dropped the match to Takanori Nagase, the future bronze medalist.

Antoine (second from left) with teammates during the Opening Ceremonies
Photo courtesy of Antoine Valois-fortier (@antoinevf)

Melissa Bishop
The Ontario-native and former Windsor Lancer Melissa Bishop had high hopes heading back for her second Olympic Games. The 800m runner had a standout season - knocking off several records, winning silver at the World Championships, and earning herself a Pan American Championship gold medal. Heading into Rio she was a medal hopeful for Canada. With ease, Melissa took 1st in her qualifying heat, and headed into the semi-finals with the fastest qualifying time. In the semi's, Melissa couldn't hold off a late surge from a fellow racer and took second in her heat, still qualifying for the Finals 2 nights later. Melissa fell short in the 800m finals, finishing 4th in a fast field just 2 100ths of a second out of a bronze medal. Despite this, she was able to break her on personal record and set a new National Record of 1:57.02; pretty stellar if you ask us!

Ryan Cochrane
Competing in his third Olympic Games, Canadian swimmer Ryan Cochrane was gearing up to challenge for the gold medal in his signature event, the 1500m freestyle. At past Olympic Games he has won a Silver and Bronze medal in the 1500 free. Before the 1500 final, Ryan also competed in the heats of the 400m freestyle but failed to qualify for the final. Heading into the 1500m final, Ryan was ranked 7th with a qualifying time of 14:53:44. A less than characteristic race for Ryan failed to place him in the medal standings, finishing 6th overall in the final. This race would conclude competition for the distance swimmer.

Ryan with fellow Canadian Athletes at the Closing Ceremonies
Photo courtesy of Ryan Cochrane (@ryanacochrane)

Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk
Making their Olympic debut in the beach volleyball tournament, Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk came to make some noise at this years Games. They would face a tough pool with teams from Brazil, Latvia and Cuba standing in their way. The pair finished pool play 1-2 which would qualify them to play in the Lucky Loser round, vying for the last remaining spots in the Round of 16. They faced a Poland team and easily defeated the squad in 2 straight sets, setting them up for a Round of 16 match against the Netherlands. Despite their best efforts, the Canadian duo would fall 2-0 to the Dutch, ending their rally for an Olympic medal. Despite their placing we are extremely proud of this pair who put forth their best efforts this season to qualify themselves for their first ever Olympic Games.

Noelle Montcalm
Another athlete making her Olympic debut hails from right here in W
indsor-Essex county. A former Windsor Lancer, Noelle qualified for the Games after a stellar performance in the 400mH at the AC Trials in July. Noelle finished 1st at the trials in 55.83, a time within the Olympic standard - the first time Noelle had raced within the standard this season. On to the Games - Noelle looked sharp in the heats, easily qualifying for the semi-finals. Noelle finished individual competition in the semi-finals of the 400mH, just shy of a spot in the finals.

That race however wouldn't be the end of Noelle's Olympic journey. She was selected to race in the Women's 4X400m relay to conclude the Games. The team qualified in 5th place out of the semi-finals with a time of 3:24.94. Noelle ran third for the team, and in the final she helped the squad to a 4th place finish in a time of 3:26.43, just shy of a spot on the podium.

Kate O'Brien
Kate has an awesome story - a former National team bobsledder turned track cyclist after failing to qualify for the 2014 Winter Games due to a back injury. Competing in her first ever Olympic Games, Kate helped lead the women's track cycling team to a successful showing at Rio. Kate first competed in the women's team sprint with teammate Monique Sullivan, qualifying for Round 1 with a time of 33.73. The Canadians would later fall to the Russian duo in Heat 3 of the first round.

Kate O'Brien with the Olympic Rings during the Games
Photo courtesy of Kate O'Brien (@emptykate)

Next up, Kate raced in the women's keirin event in Heat 3. Unable to qualify directly to the final out of the rounds, she would go on to race in the Round 1 Repechage's and finished second in her heat, just short of a qualifying spot for Round 2. To round out her Olympic debut, Kate raced the women's sprint, qualifying for the Round of 32 in 12th place with a time of 11.02s. She would fail to move on to the Round of 16, concluding her series of races at this years Olympic Games.

We are so proud of all the Team Infinit athletes that represented Canada at the 2016 Rio Games, and we are thankful to have them as ambassadors for our Infinit products! Congratulations to all!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Looking for a protein bar that is jam packed with healthy goodness and 25g of the highest grade protein available? A protein bar that sells out in under 2 hours because it is hand-crafted, gluten free and delicious? Then look no further - we have what you're looking for.

Mack's Effort began at a local gym in Windsor, ON, CrossFit All Levels. Grace Mack, owner and founder of Mack's Effort bars wanted to create an exclusive protein bar for her husbands gym as they weren't happy with the generic bars on the market. Grace experimented with recipes until the Mack's Effort Original bar was created - a delicious blend of nuts, seeds, cocoa nibs, banana, coconut oil, coconut, spices and Infinit Nutrition Raw Whey Isolate. Mack's bars are jam packed with 25g of protein per bar, are hand crafted, gluten free, and compliant with the Zone diet.

After the first trial week at the gym, Grace quickly found
out that the gym members couldn't get enough of these high protein bars. Since she chooses to use only high quality ingredients, the cost of making the
bars became far too high to give them away so she decided to begin taking orders and selling the bars to the CrossFit All Levels members. From there, she set up a
booth at the Walkerville Night Market here in Windsor and sold out within 2
hours! Customers from the night market then began ordering regularly and a business was born. Mack's Effort currently offers 4 types of bars - Original, Chocolate Original, Mack's Brownies, and Chocolate Orange.

Grace now sells her bars across Ontario, with hand delivered orders within Windsor in under 2 days. Due to the coconut oil in the bars causing consistency issues if too warm, the bars are not yet available to provinces outside of Canada, however we don't see that being an issue in the future considering the growth of this company!

When we asked Grace what makes her bars better than the other bars on the market, she stated "I genuinely believe that Mack's Effort bars are the best
tasting, high protein bar there is! I have tried a lot of different brands but
most protein bars are factory made and include "filler" ingredients
and much of which you can't pronounce. They also generally offer around 12g
protein per bar but Mack's Effort bars provide 25g of protein and are
made with real, top quality ingredients and no fillers! They are hand crafted
and gluten free."

Her goal for the company? "My ultimate goal is for Mack's Effort to be the
"go to" protein bar for athletes across Canada. I have 2 very young
children right now so in 5 years time I will be at a point in my life where I
can focus much more time on achieving this goal."

If you are in the Windsor area you can stop by CrossFit All Levels to pick up a bar. For bulk orders or out of town customers, head over to www.mackseffort.com to shop a variety of bars sure to please. Orders can also be placed by calling Grace at 519-567-0898.